While the finance minister was presenting budget proposals in the Punjab Assembly on July 16, Chief Minister Parkash Badal was conspicuous by his absence in the House. He was not unwell. He was in the national capital, meeting the union home minister Rajnath Singh and finance minister Arun jaitley, pleading for central intervention to stop Haryana from constituting a state-level Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC).